Sunday, December 13, 2009

One school week till Christmas break.

Here are some students who attended the Native Youth Organization academic and sport contest at Scammon Bay. I hadn't been out of the village of Emmonak for months, so I when I was asked to go as a chaperone, I jumped at it. I had a good time with the kids as I always do when out of the classroom. In the classroom is work time for students and myself, so we don't always have time to visit and get to know each other better. These are good kids with good hearts.
Here is the frozen Bering Sea. On the upper left is open water. Scammon Bay is much more interesting geographically than Emmonak. Scammon is on the sea with low mountains behind it. Some of Scammon is on the side of a high hill or low mountain. To someone from Emmonak it is a mountain! I heard they have the same type of discipline problems that we have in Emmonak.

People down on the Yukon River messing around with the sun setting. Yes, I think it was 4:44 p.m. I looked at my watch. Notice the trees are flocked again. Remember for a bigger picture double click on the picture and when finished hit the back button. There isn't as much snow as last year's fifty year record snow fall, course it is only December.
This should be a painting. The tiny fluorescent colored cloud in the bottom left was much more noticeable to us.
Susan with flocked bushes (almost pink again). We got word that our church is sending Christmas gives to our middle school students. Christian love is incredible to me. People caring when they don't have to. We have received over 60 hand netted caps for the children. Hope I spelled netting right, if not Susan will advise, which is why I am still alive. We are thinking they should wear them when they sing in the school Christmas program. The caps are only one of the gifts the people doing good works for God are sending. I didn't have my hat on this walk and my ears were about to fall off from the cold especially when there was nothing blocking the wind. I am homesick for my daughters.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello!
Greetings from North Carolina! I know that this will seem a bit random. However, I was wondering if you could help me. I am currently a graduate student at Western Carolina University studying special education, mild to moderate LD/MR. I will graduate in May 2011 with my MAT. When I was a little girl, I always wanted to work in Alaska. That said, I was hoping you could provide me with information how you became a teacher in Alaska. Are there any tips you would like to share? For instance, where did you find your job? Thank you for everything!!!
meghan harter
p.s. Have a wonderful holiday season and stay dry!

David Thorne said...

Meghan go to Alaska Teacher Placement, Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, and any of the school districts have a web site with information in their human resource or recruitment pages. The school district I am with is Loweryukon.org. I would suggest if your considering working in the bush you have a few years experience because the bush can be very tough on new teachers depending on the school district. You could go to a larger school district like Anchorage and get lots of support, I would assume. Then try the bush.

Unknown said...

Thank you for your suggestions. I agree with you. I believe I need more experience before I apply to bush schools. I think I would benefit if I lived in a larger community at first. I am looking in to the Southern regions of Alaska, specifically around Kodiak and Ketchikan. Again, thank you! I hope you and your family are having a wonderful holiday season! :)
meghan